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Eddie Davies needs to put Wanderers fans, staff and players out of their misery and make sure his next decision is a wise one.
We have reached the stage where Davies needs to make up his mind and select one of the offers available to him.
No more jostling for time or position, no more games, no more brinkmanship. The club needs a fresh direction and after being badly let down by its custodians in the last few years, needs leadership too.
Davies has four options, one of which being to tear the whole thing up and start again.
The first has made little attempt to hide their interest.
Sports Shield, led by ex-Whites striker Dean Holdsworth, has been the most persistent presence through this whole process.
Pictured in the stands, quoted on the radio, Holdsworth’s courtship has been visible and enduring.
Many fans have identified with his bid, although sensible questions are being asked about its structure and intentions. The best advice I could give to anyone coming into the club right now would be to adopt a policy of transparency and openness. It would come as a refreshing change.
In my own experience Dean is passionate about the club and has some exciting plans – but if it was as simple as that, the deal would have been done a long time ago.
The second bid, from a consortium backed by Korean money, has remained extremely low key. There had been some suggestion they stepped away from negotiations with Wanderers struggling so badly at the foot of the Championship but in the last couple of days they appear to have started talking again.
Foreign ownership has become fashionable in the Championship. For example, who would have guessed that this weekend we would see Reading take on Sheffield Wednesday at the Madejski Stadium, with the directors’ box packed with Thai owners?
Davies’s third option would be a game-changer. The Supporters’ Trust has only recently become a legal entity but significant work has been done behind the scenes to assemble a steering group which can lead them forward quickly.
Though primarily the work of three devoted fans – Ian Bridge, Mike Smith and Chris Peacock – the trust has now brought aboard some specialists and attracted a credible amount of funding to go with their near 5,000-strong membership.
A group that once appeared to be a safety net might actually be developing into a realistic contender and an online petition was launched by local estate agents Miller Metcalfe lobbying Davies and Trevor Birch to make them preferred bidders.
It is quickly becoming apparent that whoever takes the club on, they should ignore the trust at their peril.
Whatever happens must happen quickly. There is a lot of anger and disappointment around the club after Wednesday’s revelation that the January wages would not be paid on time, adding to the last two months of uncertainty. That today’s game against MK Dons is going ahead at all is testament to the loyalty of the people who really do have the club at heart.
Neil Lennon and his coaching staff deserve some praise for helping some of the staff at Euxton out too.
The Wanderers boss has come in for criticism for his side’s failure on the pitch and his own behaviour off it this last few months but he has been badly let down by this football club too.
I used to be mildly jealous listening to tales of the ‘good old days’ at Burnden Park, as told by my predecessor Gordon Sharrock. The club seemed more tightly knit back then, and certainly more approachable than I have found it in my eight years following it around the globe.
During the Premier League era Bolton Wanderers lost its way and forgot what made it great – its local roots. There will be a time to examine why, and point to the decisions that got us into this mess, but not now.
Recent events have stripped things back and I can see that the club hasn’t changed all that much. There are still a lot of good people working hard to keep the place going, and in such trying circumstances.
The first act of anyone who walks through that door as the new owners of Bolton Wanderers Football Club should be to acknowledge what they have, and ensure they appreciate it.
Source
We have reached the stage where Davies needs to make up his mind and select one of the offers available to him.
No more jostling for time or position, no more games, no more brinkmanship. The club needs a fresh direction and after being badly let down by its custodians in the last few years, needs leadership too.
Davies has four options, one of which being to tear the whole thing up and start again.
The first has made little attempt to hide their interest.
Sports Shield, led by ex-Whites striker Dean Holdsworth, has been the most persistent presence through this whole process.
Pictured in the stands, quoted on the radio, Holdsworth’s courtship has been visible and enduring.
Many fans have identified with his bid, although sensible questions are being asked about its structure and intentions. The best advice I could give to anyone coming into the club right now would be to adopt a policy of transparency and openness. It would come as a refreshing change.
In my own experience Dean is passionate about the club and has some exciting plans – but if it was as simple as that, the deal would have been done a long time ago.
The second bid, from a consortium backed by Korean money, has remained extremely low key. There had been some suggestion they stepped away from negotiations with Wanderers struggling so badly at the foot of the Championship but in the last couple of days they appear to have started talking again.
Foreign ownership has become fashionable in the Championship. For example, who would have guessed that this weekend we would see Reading take on Sheffield Wednesday at the Madejski Stadium, with the directors’ box packed with Thai owners?
Davies’s third option would be a game-changer. The Supporters’ Trust has only recently become a legal entity but significant work has been done behind the scenes to assemble a steering group which can lead them forward quickly.
Though primarily the work of three devoted fans – Ian Bridge, Mike Smith and Chris Peacock – the trust has now brought aboard some specialists and attracted a credible amount of funding to go with their near 5,000-strong membership.
A group that once appeared to be a safety net might actually be developing into a realistic contender and an online petition was launched by local estate agents Miller Metcalfe lobbying Davies and Trevor Birch to make them preferred bidders.
It is quickly becoming apparent that whoever takes the club on, they should ignore the trust at their peril.
Whatever happens must happen quickly. There is a lot of anger and disappointment around the club after Wednesday’s revelation that the January wages would not be paid on time, adding to the last two months of uncertainty. That today’s game against MK Dons is going ahead at all is testament to the loyalty of the people who really do have the club at heart.
Neil Lennon and his coaching staff deserve some praise for helping some of the staff at Euxton out too.
The Wanderers boss has come in for criticism for his side’s failure on the pitch and his own behaviour off it this last few months but he has been badly let down by this football club too.
I used to be mildly jealous listening to tales of the ‘good old days’ at Burnden Park, as told by my predecessor Gordon Sharrock. The club seemed more tightly knit back then, and certainly more approachable than I have found it in my eight years following it around the globe.
During the Premier League era Bolton Wanderers lost its way and forgot what made it great – its local roots. There will be a time to examine why, and point to the decisions that got us into this mess, but not now.
Recent events have stripped things back and I can see that the club hasn’t changed all that much. There are still a lot of good people working hard to keep the place going, and in such trying circumstances.
The first act of anyone who walks through that door as the new owners of Bolton Wanderers Football Club should be to acknowledge what they have, and ensure they appreciate it.
Source
